I think so, yes. The problem is that very few foreigners are actually able to speak "Osaka-ben" -- what they do is speak standard Japanese with a couple of Osaka phrases or constructions thrown in. It would be like if someone spoke "standard" English and mixed some Southern English phrases in there (but pronounced everything as "standard" English).

Yudan Taiteki wrote:
I think so, yes. The problem is that very few foreigners are actually able to speak "Osaka-ben" -- what they do is speak standard Japanese with a couple of Osaka phrases or constructions thrown in.

I wouldn't be so sure about that..

two_heads_talking wrote:
most foreigners are still stuck in the wakaraharahoraharahen. and bakkayarroo (with a heavy rolled r)

That sounds authoritative.

Last edited by Kagemaru on Tue 11.06.2007 10:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

I lived in Osaka for 1,5 years and after a while I did start to (unconsciously) copy the intonation to a certain extent; going to Tokyo some people would tell me I sounded Kansai-ish even though I barely ever use Kansai-ben grammatical constructions or words. Whether or not this is a good thing is something else (I would personally prefer my intonation to be closer to the standard dialect).

As for non-natives speaking a dialect rather than the standard language, I would think that sounds fairly odd regardless of whether or not they speak it perfectly... but this probably goes for any language (except maybe English because there's no real standard form of that language).

Yudan Taiteki wrote:
That is what native speakers have told me. Why do you think differently?

My experience has been the same as your Chris. Even my close friends would look at me odd when I would speak hogen to anyone but them. it seemed ok in their circle, but outside the circle, it was looked down on.

You ever here a guy from Boston say "Y'all"? Sure, he can say the word, but it sounds different from people in the south. I was born and raised in New England, and moved to Florida when i was 16. I am 35 now, and have a strong southern accent. My parents still have the north accent i had when we moved here.
Accents, and dialects are unique, and will be hard to copy for anyone that hasn't been influenced by it for years. Especially, if your past a certain age.

It sounds funny to me, when people from NC and up, try to talk like they are from Georgia or FLA. It isn't just the words you speak, it's the tone, speed, and in my case, the twang of the words that matter most.